Governmental Accounting and Auditing Conference

Featured Speakers

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  Becky Hammond, CPA, CISA, CITP, CGAP

  Bio

  As an audit and consulting partner in the New Orleans practice unit of Carr, Riggs & Ingram, LLC, Becky utilizes more than 25 years of experience to serve clients in the governmental area. Her audit, accounting, and consulting experience spans a variety of governmental entities, including municipalities, school boards, enterprise funds, special districts, and governmental employee benefit plans. She also has many years of experience serving not-for-profit entities and closely-held businesses. She has issued numerous financial and compliance reports in accordance with Government Auditing Standards and OMB Uniform Guidance for governmental, not-for-profit, and for profit entities, including funding from the Department of Education, Department of Housing and Urban Development, FEMA, COVID-19, and ARPA related funding. She serves as a Government & Public Sector Sub-Line Leader for her firm, currently in the top 25 largest firms in the United States.
  
  Becky earned her Bachelor of Science in Management with an Accounting Major from Tulane University. She is a member of the AICPA and the Louisiana Society of Certified Public Accountants (LCPA). She serves on the LCPA Governmental Accounting & Auditing, Peer Review, and Women's Initiatives Committees. She is also a member of the AGA, the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA), the Accounting and Finance Women's Alliance (AFWA), and the Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA).

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  Rob Aucoin

  Bio

  Rob has over 8 years in public accounting experience preceded by 7 years of government finance department experience. He has obtained extensive experience in government accounting with various size government agencies, including large parish governments, various proprietary funds, school boards and special purpose governments. Rob has assisted many of his clients in design and implementation of internal controls and has obtained the CRI Level 2 Information Technology Specialist internal certification, which gives him knowledge specific to the effects of information technology on financial accounting and reporting. Rob provides excellent client service throughout the engagement and year-round as needed. He creates valuable relationships and has become a trusted advisor for his clients.
  
  Rob has earned his Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from Louisiana State University. He is a member of the AICPA and the Louisiana Society of Certified Public Accountants (LCPA). He serves on the LCPA Governmental Accounting & Auditing Committee. He is also a member of the AGA.

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  Lisa Parker, CPA

  Bio

  Lisa R. Parker, CPA
  
  Lisa is a project manager with the Governmental Accounting Standards Board. Prior to joining the GASB, Lisa worked for Runyon Kersteen Ouellette CPA's for 10 years, the Town of Old Orchard Beach, Maine as their Finance Director and interim Town Manager for 2 years, and the City of Saco, Maine as their Finance Director for 8 years. Lisa is a Certified Public Accountant and a Chartered Global Management Accountant. She is also a member of the Association of Governmental Accountants, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, and the Maine Society of Certified Public Accountants and has served as their President. Lisa also has previously served as President of the Maine Governmental Finance Officers Association, an Executive Board member of the New England Governmental Finance Officers Association, and a member of a National GFOA standing committee. Lisa attended Boston College and the University of Southern Maine graduating with Magna Cum Laude honors and a Bachelors degree in Accounting.

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  Tom Chain

  Bio

  Tom is currently the Director of the Technical Assistance Division of the Office of the State Auditor responsible for providing technical assistance and training for state and local government officials. Prior to joining the Technical Assistance Division in 2009 he was employed in public and private industry. Tom holds a Bachelor of Accountancy degree from the University of Mississippi. He is a Certified Public Accountant and is a member of the Mississippi Society of Certified Public Accountants and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

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  Sloan Session, CPA

  Bio

  Sloan Session is a CPA and CFO of a Multi-National 20+ subsidiary software company, Dura Software as well as the founder of Accur.AI, where he builds production AI agent systems for accounting and finance teams. His focus is agentic finance: autonomous agents that monitor transactions, surface variances, and run investigation playbooks across the close, AP, AR, and FP&A. He architects these systems around a layered framework of watchers, analysts, investigators, and a controller that routes exceptions back to humans, all connected to live operational data through tooling like the Model Context Protocol. A regular voice on applied AI in finance, Sloan has spoken at Connor Group’s Converge on MCP and NetSuite and writes on the shift from finance copilots to agents that act as operators with hands. He is also involved in multiple AI start ups and pre-IPO unicorns as a subject matter expert and advisor on AI adoption and automation. Sloan received his Bachelor’s in Business Administration, Accounting from Mississippi College School of Business.”

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  Chuck Jordan

  Bio

  Chuck is currently the Director of Peer Review Professional Standards for Partners in Peer Review. Partners in Peer Review administers the AICPA Peer Review Program for Alabama, Arkansas and Mississippi. Prior to joining Partners in Peer Review he was a partner and practiced public accounting with a concentration in accounting and auditing. Chuck served as a member of the quality management team for his firm and performed peer reviews across the US. He also served on the Alabama Society of CPAs peer review committee for many years in various capacities including committee chair.

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  Steven Given

  Bio

  Steven P. Given is the Chief Information Security Officer and Director of Security, Risk & Compliance Services at Pileum Corporation. With over 20 years of experience in cybersecurity, Steve has held various roles including VP of Engineering, Chief Operating Officer, Chief Compliance Officer, and vCISO. He specializes in developing and advancing corporate security and risk programs, and has extensive experience with regulations such as GLBA, NIST, ISO, and HIPAA. Steve holds a BS and MS in Electrical Engineering from Mississippi State University.

  He works with numerous businesses, universities, health care systems, school systems and agencies to develop cybersecurity and cyber risk management programs that support organizational objectives while protecting the assets of the organizations, its partners, employees and customers from information breaches and the associated consequences.